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With a 15 year old son and soon to be 14 year old daughter, I am smack dab in the middle of trying to figure out how to raise two kids in a world of technology. I was amazed the other day when I logged into my router and noticed there were 47 wireless devices connected. At first I thought a few of my neighbors and their friends had connected into our router, but after looking at each device, I realized just how electronically connected my family was. From TV’s and phones, to tablets, watches and a few desktop computers, it hit me hard. If there was ever an awaking, this was mine. I shall call this

“My Awakening”.

Now I am no doctor nor a parental physiologist, but I do know from experience that these electronic devices have shaped me and my kids into something I am concerned with. I want my kids to be educated with electronic devices but I do not want them to become desensitized from reality. I want my kids to be a part of this electronic revolution, I just don’t want to see them die from it. Having a wife who works at Sony and specifically on the Sony PlayStation, I know it is not going away nor is it going to get any easier. But I do know I can do something about it and thus, I am.

My Awakening is to help parents find the rights tools to assist them in bringing up their teenage kids in a world of technology. Yes I found some great apps that limit the amount of time on an electronic device, however some would call this bad parenting and in some ways I agree. There are many books to read about technology parenting and I will continue to post these on my blog. Thanks to my good friend Rob, I am currently reading Queen Bees and Wannabes for my daughter, and Masterminds & Wingmen for my son. Both books written by Rosalind Wiseman and so far have really struck home.

Over the next several months I will be posting what I have learned from counselors and friends and the research I have done on my own. My goal here is to really share the knowledge I am about to find. However I think my ultimate goal is to eventually start a new business that does just what I am looking for: Providing the right tools to assist parents in bringing up their teenage kids in a world of technology.

So for now, I am going to kick off my awakening by re-sharing these two pages of house rules (shown below) on my refrigerator door and wait for my kid’s response and feedback, which is going to be awesome I assure you. In the meantime, please start by reading this page called Cognitive Development in Adolescence from the University of Rochester Medical Center. Cognitive development means the growth of a child’s ability to think and reason. You first have to understand your child’s ability to “think and reason” before you can help a child.

It’s been awhile since I’ve said the words “that is incredible” but what you are about to view is truly amazing and for many reasons. The video below shows a new type of 3D printing using Light and Oxygen.

How it works

An oxygen window is created, allowing the machine to control precisely the mixing of the laser light and oxygen on the resulting resin. Variation in the mixture is what makes the shapes. The window is key here: it’s transparent to light, but allows oxygen to pass through it, the way a contact lens does, according to the company. By carefully balancing the interaction of light and oxygen, the object continuously grows from a pool of resin. This process is called CLIP, Continuous Liquid Interface Production technology. CLIP moves beyond the limitations of 3D printing to offer unprecedented speed, quality, and choice.

Who makes this

Carbon 3D, is a relatively unknown California-based start-up behind this marvel. They just received $40m in funding by several private equity firms and I am sure it is just a matter of time before they are acquired by HP. This is a must have company for HP if they wish to stay in the printing business.

This Changes Everything

Because the Carbon3D printer uses a pool of resin that has been oxygenated instead of traditional layer-to-layer, this makes manufacturing much more feasible. This new method for 3D printing allows prints to be made 25 to 100 times faster than current technologies and advance the era of on-the-fly manufacturing. No doubt, 3D printing is the future, but Carbon3D has just changed everything.

Found this video very interesting about Facebook fraud. After watching the video, it really got me thinking about Facebook advertising and the core concept behind Facebook in their ability to make money as a company.

Wow, just saying the words “Twitter and Ecommerce” is like saying “beer and pizza”. It was enough for me to write my first blog post in several months and register the domain name “IwantToWorkAtTwitter.com”. Twitter was made for Ecommerce and the good news is, some recently leaked documents announced Twitter is heading in this direction. Well it’s about time!
Actually most people may not think this is a big deal. Most merchants already tweet about products on sale or new product announcements.

Facebook tried it with their “Gift” button and we all know how thatturned out. Pinterest has a chance at publishing an Ecommerce API but if they were going to do this it should have been done years ago. But here is what excites me about Twitter adding Ecommerce to its app.

Ecommerce in itself is difficult. No matter if you are a consumer, merchant or programmer it’s difficult. As a consumer, I know what I want to buy and I know how much I am willing to spend for it. Just the other day I got a tweet that said “5 new Ripcord snowboards left at $179”. I couldn’t believe it was selling for $179. So I bought it. I clicked on the link, the web site came up on my phone, “yep that’s the one. Wow $179”. I tried to checkout using my phone and after several minutes, I turned it off and went upstairs to my desktop. I added the product to my cart, checked out, created an account, added my shipping information, reviewed my order, clicked on the “Confirm Purchase button” and error. “Sorry, this product is out of stock. Please check back again later!”. Are you serious! #ThatWasStupid.

Now, let’s go into the future say 6 to 10 months from now when Twitter, hopefully, shows the world how to do ecommerce.
I got a tweet that said “5 new Ripcord snowboards left at $179”. I couldn’t believe it was selling for $179. So I bought it. I clicked on the ETweet purchase button, selected my Mom’s shipping address (Mom lives in Lake Tahoe), entered my pin number and pressed the confirm button. Done!
You see, all that Twitter has to do is be a gateway between the consumer and the merchant. On Twitter, I add my financial information, my default shipping address but also my Mom’s shipping address and maybe a few friends. Most people only have a few places where they have things shipped. And just like PayPal, Twitter confirms all of your banking information allowing merchants to feel good that the order placed by you comes from a Twitter Verified consumer. Not only does the consumer (me) feel good, but the merchant feels really good. He just sold 5 snowboards in less than a minute.

It may not be a snowboard you are wanting to buy, it could be airline tickets or even digital music. I know what I want to buy and how much I want to spend. I only need 140 characters telling me “Here’s what you want”. All I need now is a button to say “Confirm Purchase”.

I’m sure when Twitter roles out it’s ecommerce platform it is going to be a little more than this. I like Twitter as a company and their vision and firmly believe they have the right person leading this technology (Nathan Hubbard @NathanCHubbard.) I own their stock and I use their product several times a day. So Twitter, if you are listening, IwantToWorkAtTwitter.com! There would be nothing better than to be a part of a team that changes the world. I would even work for free!